Overnight headlines about the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant in South Africa seem to have spooked investors, with a risk-off pulse sending global shares and U.S. stock futures tumbling, and safe-havens like U.S. Treasurys and gold benefiting from the outflows. Asia stocks outside Japan slid over 2 percent, Europe and U.S. stock futures are down sharply, and crude oil prices fell over 5 percent. “People are reacting with the uncertainty about what this means. You shoot first and ask questions later when this sort of news erupts,” said Ray Attrill, Head of FX Strategy at NAB in Sydney, Australia. By around 4:30 a.m. New York time, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was down around 2.5 percent, on course for its worst session in over a year, while UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 3.3 percent, Germany’s DAX fell around 3 percent and France’s CAC 40 shed 3.5 percent. The risk-off sentiment saw investors …